Automatic door operator



Aug. 24, 1965 E. E. LODGE AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledMarch 22, 1962 INVENTOR. EDWA RD E LODGE ATTORNEY Aug. 24, 1965 E. E.LODGE AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 22, 1962INVENTOR. EDWARD E, LODGE Aug. 24, 1965 E. E. LODGE I 3,202,415

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATOR Filed March 22, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.EDWARD E. LODGE ATTORNEY Aug. 24, 1965 E. E. LODGE AUTOMATIC DOOROPERATOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 22, 1962 INVENTOR.

EDWARD E. LODGE ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,262,415 AUTQMATIC B605!()PERATOR Edward Lodge, 2881 Plymouth Road, Cleveland 24, Ohio Filedhim. 22, 1962, Ser. No. 181,647 6 Claims. (1. 268-?) This inventionpertains to a door operating mechanism for opening and closingvertically movable doors such as garage doors.

This invention is a further development of the device shown, describedand claimed in Patent No. 2,925,267, issued Feb. 16, 1960 to Matt A.Volf. In theVolf patent a motor and drive device is connected to one ofthe upper corners of the door and is coupled to one of the two siderails on which the door travels by a rubber drive roller and a pinchroller.

It has been found by experience that certain types of garage doors tendto cock and bind in their two spacedapart tracks or side rails whendriving power is applied only to one corner of the door. This can beespecially noticeable in 16 foot or double doors where the span betweenthe tracks is quite wide.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a connection betweenthe motor device and the door which forces the corner of the door towhich the motor device is connected, and hence the entire door, to trackor move accurately in relation to the tracks on which the door ismounted, thereby to eliminate cocking and binding of the door in itstracks.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an operator for agarage door wherein the motor unit, after it is in driving engagementwith the door track, and the means for connecting the motor unit to acorner of the door are rigid and force the corner of the door to move ina line which is parallel to the plane of the track, and hence to forcethe entire door to move straight up or down, thereby preventing cockingof the door and permitting the use of a single motor drive unitoperating on only one of the regular door tracks to open and close thedoor.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a connectionbetween a garage door and a motor operator which is rigid in alldirections essential to force the door to track properly and which isresiliently flexible in one other direction to actuate a safety switchwhen necessary, and which provides the required pivoting action betweenthe motor unit and the door.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a door operator whichis resiliently clamped to the regular door rail and wherein the clampingmechanism is reversible so it can be used on either the right-hand orthe lefthand rail; the clamping mechanism being adjustable to establishthe proper coupling between drive and pinch rollers, and beingreleasable in the event of power failure, and which above all does notunduly load the gears and bearings of the motor device.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a door operator havinga drive roller which is small compared to previous drive rollers,thereby reducing the torque output required from the motor, withconsequent reduction in the size of the gears in the gear box, resultingin higher eiliciency of the unit to the point that a series wound motorcan, for the first time, be used in door operator service.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with otherand further objects thereof, reference is had to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and itsscope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

An aspect of the present invention lies in the provision of a dooroperating device for use with a vertically slidable door, such as agarage door, mounted on two spaced apart regular side rails, whereinreversible electric motor means are used, and wherein a pair of rollersone of which is a drive roller and the other of which is a pinch rollerare used to couple the motor to one of the regular rails. One of therollers, preferably the drive roller, is made of rubber and the rollerscouple to opposite sides of the rail. The rubber drive roller is drivenby the motor and the coupling roller is at a location on the oppositeside of the rail. Pinching means squeeze the rollers together. Pivotmeans connect the motor unit to the door to provide for the requiredpivoting action therebetween about an axis parallel to the axes of thepinch rollers, and a U-shaped connector rigidly connects the pivot meansto the motor means. The pivot means, the U-shaped connector and thepinch rollers in the door track combine to form a connection withcontrolled rigidity, except for the pivoting motion, which holds thedoor against cocking motion in respect to its tracks, yet permits acontrolled amount of flexibility sufiicient to actuate a safety switchunder emergency conditions.

With reference to the drawings there is shown in FIG- URE 1 a section ofa garage and garage door, showing a regular door track and the unit ofthe present invention mounted between the regular track and the door.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the mounted operator showing the door in itsup position.

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the mounted operator showing the toggleclamp.

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the toggle clamp.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken through the portion of the devicewhich connects the operator to the door.

With reference to FIGURE 1 the reference character It! indicates agarage wall and the door is indicated by reference character 11. A pairof regular tracks or rails 12 (only one of which is shown) are connectedto the garage 10 in any suitable manner and constitute the two spacedapart rails on which the door 11 runs. The motor unit 14 of the presentinvention is connected to the door by hardware means 15 and to the rail12, on which the door runs by means of pinch rollers means 16, 17. Thusthe standard door rail, Without modification, is used by the operator,and it is not necessary to add a special center rail for the operator.Further, it is not necessary, as it has been in the past where theoperator runs on one of the regular door rails, to have a drive rolleron the far rail with a power connection from the motor unit to the fardrive roller to prevent cooking and binding of the door.

The operator or motor unit comprises four major components; the first ofwhich is the motor 14 and the gear box 21 which through shaft 20 drivesthe rubber drive roller 16; the second of which is a U-shaped connector30 which is connected between the motor and gear box units 14, 21 andthe door; the third of which is the connector means 35 for connectingthe U-sshaped connector to the regular door hardware; and the fourth ofwhich is a toggle clamp 50 for clamping the two drive rollers 16, 17together on opposite sides of the door rail 12.

The details of the motor unit 14 and of the gear box 21 are not shown ingreat detail, but they comprise a series wound motor which drives a wormgear 22 which in turn drives a gear 23 in the gear box 21. Gear 23drives the rubber drive roller 1'5 which is tightly coupled to theunderneath side of the track 12.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the rubber roller 16 is grooved to accommodate theunderneath side of track 12. The shaft 19 of the coupling roller 1'7 ispivotally mounted by pivot means 18 to the top of the gear box 21 andextends 'unit as the door opens and closes.

across the gear box toward the track 12, carrying with it the rotatablecoupling wheel 17 at its outer end. A U- shaped locating device 24mounted on the top of the gear box 21 receives a portion of the shaft 19to prevent it from moving sideways, as shown in FIGURE 2. V

The motor and gear box unit 14, 21 carry two mounting brackets 25, 26(FIGURE 2) to only one of which the U- shaped connector 30 is rigidlybolted by two spaced-apart bolts 27 (only one of which is shown inFIGURE 1) for right-hand rail mounting and to the other of whichbrackets it may be bolted for left-hand rail mounting. V The U-shapedconnector 3% is shown in detail in FIG- URE 2. It preferably is made ofhot rolled steel rather than spring steel in order to reduce costs,though of course spring steel may be used. It is comprised of two legs31, 32 whichare substantially parallel with an interconnecting arcuateportion 33 connected to the two legs and forming a closed end. The otherend is open and at the open end the leg 31 has an outwardly extendingmounting bracket 34 which is connected to the motor and gear box unit14, 21 by means of the two bolts 27. Leg 32 of the U-shaped connectorhas connected to it by bolts 36 two spaced-apart L-shaped connectors 35,one leg of each of which has a hole through it through which the axle 40of a regular door roller 39 extends to establish a pivot about whichpivotal motion takes place between the door and the motor Between thespacedapart L-shaped connectors 35 (FIGURE 1) and mounted around theaxle 40 of the door roller 39 is the upper door bushing 41 which formspart of the regular door hardware and which is tightly connected to thedoor 11 byflat plate 42 screwed to the face of the'door.

It is very important that the L-shaped connectors 35 be bolted tightlyto the broad U-shaped connector 30 and that they bear against'the edgesof the door bushing 41 so that there is no lateral play of the bushing41 between the L-shaped connectors 35. Since the width of the doorbushings 41 can vary from door-to-door, the legs of the When the door ismoving down and hits an obstruction,

the legs 31, 32 of the U-shaped connector while having controlledrigidity in a transverse direction can move toward each other, thearcuate portion 33 bending slightly, and the micro-switch 45 is actuatedby switch arm 47 connected to leg 32 to break the electrical circuit tothe motor. As shown, micro-switch 45 is carried by the bracket 46connected to the connector legs 31 and it extends toward the otherconnector leg 32 on which is mounted the adjustable switch actuatingblade 47. The blade 47 is a spring member which is held in position byan adjustable screw threaded device 48 which is threaded through the leg32 into engagement with the blade 47 to adjust the permitted amount ofbending of the U-shaped connector before the micro-switch 4-5 operates,thus to adjust the amount of force the downwardly moving door will exertbefore the micro-switch is actuated to shut off the motor.

Since the U-shaped connector is made of hot rolled steel rather thanspring steel it is essential that it not be over-bent. To prevent thisthe bracket 4-6 serves another purpose. A stop device 55 is connectedbetween the bracket 46 and the opposite leg 32 of the U-shaped connector30. This stop-device, after the connector bends enough to close switch45, exerts a positive stopping action between the legs 31, 32 at theopen end thereof, which prevents over bending of the connector,especially in the portion 33.

Another important feature of the door operator lies in e the motor unitwhich comprises the series wound electric motor, the gears to the rubberdrive roller and the drive roller. Because a large gear 23 is driven byworm 22 and a small rubber coupling roller 16 is used, it is possible toconnectors 35 which are bolted to the U-shaped connector 38 each shouldhave a transverse slot 37 (FIGURE 5) to accommodate bolts 36. Thus uponmounting the door operator to the door, using only the unmodifiedregular door hardware which is found at the top door roller 39, the twoL-shaped connectors 35 are pushed in as close'to each other as possible,the regular door bushing 41 holding them apart. 7 together with thebroad U-shaped connector 30, provides the highlyrimportant stability atthe location where the operator is connected to the door. This stabilityis essential. Otherwise the corner of the door has some lateral freedomand the door will cock and bind. Thus it will be seen that one of theimportant functions of the U-shaped connector is to permit pivotingaction about axle with respect to the bushing 41 with an absoluteminimum of any other motion, thus constraining the corner of the doorand the door operator to move up and down as a unit.

'At the other side of the motor unit, opposite from the U-shapedconnector, the rubber drive roller 16 and the coupling roller 17 areclosely coupled to the track 12, and since the coupling roller is withinthe groove of the track and the rubber roller is outside and is shapedto conform to the bottom of the. track, the motor unit is constrained tomove parallel to the plane of the track. This forces the upper corner ofthe door to which the motor unit is connected to move in a planeparallel to the track, and prevents cocking and binding of the door inits tracks.

The device of the present invention is the first door operator which canrun on only one of the two regular door tracks, without a drivingconnection across to the opposite door track, and operate the doorwithout binding, even though it may be a loose fitting 16-foot widedoor.

The U-shaped connector 30 has a second major function. In conjunction.with a micro-switch mounted on one of its legs and electricallyconnected into the motor circuit, it serves as a safety device.

The bolts 36 then are tightened. This,

I this second position the clamp can be taken oif, combears against thebushing 1 use an inexpensive series wound motor. Preferably the diameterof the rubber drive roller 16 should be not greater than the diameter ofthe coupling wheel 17, and the diameter of the gear 23 should be abouttwice the diameter of the drive roller. This permits the use of theseries wound motor with its advantage of maximum torque at zero speed.

An important feature of the invention .is the toggle clamp 50 whichtightly clamps together the two pinch rollers 16, 17 on opposite sidesof the track 12.

The toggle clamp 50 comprises a bushing 51 which surrounds the axle 20at a location between the rubber roller 16 and the gear box 21. It isimportant that the toggle be just as close as possible to the rubberroller and the pinch roller. Otherwise the lever arms and the forcesinvolved work to a disadvantage. A broad collar 52 V and is connected toa long handle 53. A ball and socket joint is formed between the partialball 54 and a socket formed through the arm 56. Arm 56 is welded to thepair of hook arms 57 which extend up over and are hooked around theshaft 19 of the pinch roller 17. FIGURE 4 shows the toggle clamp in twodifferent positions; the solid line drawing showing the position whereinthe toggle is in its clamping position and the dotted line drawingshowing the position wherein the toggle is in its relaxed, or unclamped,position. In

pletely releasing the two rollers from each other. A chain or rope maybe connected through hole 58 and extend downwardly so that a person canreadily move the handle 53 from the clamped position to the other in theevent of failure of the electric power so that the door can be operatedby hand. The handle portion 53 is in threaded engagement with the stemportion 59 which is connected to the collar 52. If there is wear on therubber pinch roller 16 tending to reduce the coupling between rollers 16and 17, rotation of the handle 53 in the proper direction willre-establish the proper coupling force.

While there have been described what are at present considered to be thepreferred embodiments of this invention, it will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be madetherein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore,

aimed the appended claims to cover all such changes and modific tions asall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

1 claim:

In a door operating device for use with a vertically slidabie doormounted on two side tracks; reversible electric motor means; electriccircuit means for operating said rnotor nieans; driving roller meansdriven by said motor means and in driv n engagement with one of saidside tracks, pivot means tor connection to the door for pivoting motionabout an axis parallel to the axis of said driving rolle means and rigidagainst other motions; and a U-shaped connector formed from fiat stockrigidly connected to said pivot means and rigidly connected to saidmotor means; said U-shaped connector having two spaced apart legs andproviding spring motion of the legs toward each other as the doorundergoes excess resistance to motion, safety switch means electricallyconnected in said circuit means and mounted in respect to said U-shapedconnector to be actuated when excess resistance to door motion isencountered; said pivot means, said U-shaped connector and said drivingroller means in engagement with said track forming a rigid connectionbetween the door and the motor means except for said pivoting motionwhich connection restrains the door against cocking motion in respect tothe said side tracks.

2. A door operating device as set forth in claim 1, v

further characterized by said safety switch means being mounted betweenlegs of said U-shaped connector and by the legs of said connector movingtoward each other when the door encounters excess resistance duringclosing motion.

3. A door operating device as set forth in claim 2, furthercharacterized by said U-shaped connector being formed of hot rolledsteel and by means for preventing the said legs from being permanentlydeformed in respect to each other.

i. A door operating device as set forth in claim 2, furthercharacterized by adjustable means for adjusting the instant at which thesafety swi ch is operated in relation to the motion of said legs towardeach other.

5. A door operating device as set forth in claim t, furthercharacterized by the width of said U-shaped connector in a directionparallel to the axis of said driving roller means being substantially aswide as the bearing of the door hardware for maximum stability againstcocking of the door.

6. A door operating device as set forth in claim 5, furthercharacterized by said pivot means comprising two spaced apart L-bars oneleg of each of-which is rigidly connected to said U-shaped connector,andthe other leg of each of which extends perpendicularly away therefromand has a hole therein to accommodate the shaft of a door roller, thebearing of the door hardware extending between said two L-bars and beingin engagement with each, said L-bars being sufiiciently rigid and beingso mounted that they will not to an appreciable degree spread outwardly,whereby the pivot connection between the door hardware and the pivotmeans permits substantially only rotary motion about an axis parallel tothe axis of said drive roller.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,925,267 2/60Volt 268-59 HARRESON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A DOOR OPERATING DEVICE FOR USE WITH A VERTICALLY SLIDABLE DOORMOUNTED ON TWO SIDE TRACKS; REVERSIBLE ELECTRIC MOTOR MEANS; ELECTRICCIRCUIT MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID MOTOR MEANS; DRIVING ROLLER MEANSDRIVEN BY SAID MOTOR MEANS AND IN DRIVING ENGAGEMENT WITH ONE OF SAIDSIDE TRACKS, PIVOT MEANS FOR CONNECTION TO THE DOOR FOR PIVOTING MOTIONABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF SDAID DRIVING ROLLER MEANS ANDRIGID AGAINST OTHER MOTIONS; AND A U-SHAPED CONNECTOR FORMED FROM FLATSTOCK RIGIDLY CONNECTED TO SAID PIVOT MEANS AND RIGIDLY CONNECTED TOSAID MOTOR MEANS; MEANS; SAID U-SHAPED CONNECTOR HAVING TWO SPACED APARTLEGS AND PROVIDING SPRING MOTION OF THE LEGS TOWARD EACH OTHER AS THEDOOR UNDERGOES EXCESS RESISTANCE TO MOTION, SAFETY SWITCH MEANSELCTRICALLY CONNECTED IN SAID CIRCUIT MEANS AND MOUNTED IN RESPECT TOSAID U-SHAPED CONNECTOR TO BE ACTUATED WHEN EXCESS RESISTANCE TO DOORMOTION IS ENCOUNTERED; SAID PIVOT MEANS, SAID U-SHAPED CONNECTOR ANDSAID DRIVING ROLLER MEANS IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID TRACK FORMING A RIGIDCONNECTION BETWEEN THE DOOR AND THE MOTOR MEANS EXCEPT FOR SAID PIVOTINGMOTION WHICH CONNECTION RESTRAINS THE DOOR AGAINST COCKING MOTION INRESPECT TO THE SAID SIDE TRACKS.